Longtime president Ben Ali had been toppled, and the country was jubilant – local shopkeepers ran out to shake our hands, rejoicing that they could talk freely after living in the shadow of a dictatorship.
Months later I returned to holiday in Tunisia. It was the perfect destination for a beach holiday with a difference; its culture and (delicious) local cuisine unique, and its people just as happy and welcoming as in the immediate aftermath of the revolution.
Perhaps for this reason, by 2014 Tunisia was experiencing a record high of 425,000 UK visitors – a number it was set to surpass in 2015, with the country already up 20% year-on-year by June. And then Tunisian Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire and shot 38 tourists dead.
It was the beginning of a tragedy of which the repercussions are still being felt this week, when the coroner of the inquests into the deaths of those murdered concluded that they had been unlawfully killed. Although he rejected a request from the families’ lawyer to consider whether neglect was a factor in the victims’ deaths, the families’ subsequent decision to sue Tui will raise questions for – and potentially shake confidence in – agents and operators.
The courts will have to decide whether it is fair to suggest Tui could – and should – have done more to prevent the deaths of tourists at the hands of a lone wolf terrorist, a decision that could set a dangerous precedent for the sector. At some point surely holidaymakers must accept a degree of risk themselves when they choose to travel?
Whatever the outcome, the case will keep the story alive in the national media – a concern both for the questions it raises about the travel industry, and for Tunisia’s recovery as a destination.
The abhorrent attack in June 2015 was not just an assault on western tourists but also on Tunisia itself. Is it really fair that the tourism industries of Tunisia and the UK continue to be the ones punished for it?
